Sentai Filmworks Announces February 2010 Titles

[Chris Beveridge]

Sentai Filmworks has put out its latest round of solicitations, this time covering the release period of February 2010...

More... (http://www.mania.com/sentai-filmworks-announces-february-2010-titles_article_119300.html)

[Suwako Moriya]

Another solicitation has passed and now I continue hoping that Sentai will eventually announce K-ON! and hopefully with a Blu-Ray release. Assuming that Sentai isn't against the idea of Blu-Ray.

So I don't look like I'm just griping, I'll admit that Mariaholic is an amusing choice and not half bad. There are far better series than it, but itself was still better than multiple series.

[kusanagi-sama]

Another solicitation has passed and now I continue hoping that Sentai will eventually announce K-ON! and hopefully with a Blu-Ray release. Assuming that Sentai isn't against the idea of Blu-Ray.

So I don't look like I'm just griping, I'll admit that Mariaholic is an amusing choice and not half bad. There are far better series than it, but itself was still better than multiple series.

I think it would be better for FUNimation to license K-ON, I doubt Sentai can afford to buy the equipment for Blu-Ray

[LelouchLamperouge]

I think it would be better for FUNimation to license K-ON, I doubt Sentai can afford to buy the equipment for Blu-Ray

With Funimation, we'd get shafted badly in the Japanese audio department on the Blu-Ray not to mention questionable quality control that Funi's BDs have shown. I wouldn't be surprised if Section23/Neo-ADV releases Blu-ray anime at some point since they've expressed interest in the past for it. Same goes for Bakemonogatari. I'd love to own both series on BD, but not an the expense of inferior audio tracks. I'd just go with DVD at that point.

[kusanagi-sama]

I think it would be better for FUNimation to license K-ON, I doubt Sentai can afford to buy the equipment for Blu-Ray

With Funimation, we'd get shafted badly in the Japanese audio department on the Blu-Ray not to mention questionable quality control that Funi's BDs have shown. I wouldn't be surprised if Section23/Neo-ADV releases Blu-ray anime at some point since they've expressed interest in the past for it. Same goes for Bakemonogatari. I'd love to own both series on BD, but not an the expense of inferior audio tracks. I'd just go with DVD at that point.

While I can't comment on the current Blu-Ray releases from FUNimation (Don't own a Blu-Ray player yet), but who else has the money to license a popular show like K-ON and put it on Blu-Ray?

[LelouchLamperouge]

... but who else has the money to license a popular show like K-ON and put it on Blu-Ray?

For all we know, Funimation could have chosen to pass on K-On just as they apparently did with Clannad (and After Story) and Hidamari Sketch. K-On doesn't seem like Funimation's type of show. Clannad and After Story had to be a pretty penny too because they were pretty popular. Hidamari Sketch is pretty popular in Japan too I think. I wouldn't doubt Sentai Filmworks' abilities, as I've been continually surprised (and pleased) by what they license.

Either way, whether Funimation or Bandai Ent (who are the only ones really getting into BD) get K-On, its going to be a very flawed BD release. Funimation for the reasons I said in my previous post and Bandai Ent probably won't get the license for the the Japanese audio tracks to prevent reverse importation, which will most likely mean a K-On dub-only BD release, which is an equal crime.

The only reason Sentai Filmworks probably hasn't gone Blu-Ray is because they are a sub-only company. Just slapping on subs on a BD and releasing it for $25-30 would raise reverse importation fears for Japan. Matt Greenfield did mention 2 titles were going to be dubbed under the Sentai Filmworks label. Not going to jump ahead of myself, but that could very well be a sign of things to come, like perhaps 1 or 2 potential BD series.

[kusanagi-sama]

I think I'd rather have FUNimation license it and be hybrid dub/sub and put it on Blu-Ray despite how they handle the format over Bandia not being able to get the Japanese audio tracks to prevent reverse importation and it be dub only.

[Kouji Tamino]

I think it would be better for FUNimation to license K-ON, I doubt Sentai can afford to buy the equipment for Blu-Ray

With Funimation, we'd get shafted badly in the Japanese audio department on the Blu-Ray not to mention questionable quality control that Funi's BDs have shown. I wouldn't be surprised if Section23/Neo-ADV releases Blu-ray anime at some point since they've expressed interest in the past for it. Same goes for Bakemonogatari. I'd love to own both series on BD, but not an the expense of inferior audio tracks. I'd just go with DVD at that point.

What makes you think that Sentai would fare any better with getting better Japanese audio?

[Njr Scrawl]

I think it would be better for FUNimation to license K-ON, I doubt Sentai can afford to buy the equipment for Blu-Ray

With Funimation, we'd get shafted badly in the Japanese audio department on the Blu-Ray not to mention questionable quality control that Funi's BDs have shown. I wouldn't be surprised if Section23/Neo-ADV releases Blu-ray anime at some point since they've expressed interest in the past for it. Same goes for Bakemonogatari. I'd love to own both series on BD, but not an the expense of inferior audio tracks. I'd just go with DVD at that point.

I have not bough any F'n BD releases yet. As a sub viewer what you have said puts me in the DVD-or-nothing camp for them.

Sentai are already my #1 licensee of 2009. I'd rather they spent the money on new licenses for DVD sets than on BD technology & releases.

[EmperorBrandon]

What makes you think that Sentai would fare any better with getting better Japanese audio?

That is a good question since Sentai hasn't done any Blu-ray releases whatsoever so far, right? So there's no telling how good or not they would be at them.

I don't have anything to play BD's at this point, so not much for me to care about one way or the other here. If it's a title I really want (and K-ON! would be one of the rare few), I may finally consider an upgrade. I'm pretty pessimistic when it comes to the titles I'm really wanting ever getting an American BD release anytime soon. Doesn't seem like there's many popular enough to get the treatment. The Japanese would probably be worried about reverse importation on K-ON!, given that it's one of the biggest Blu-ray sellers there, and in turn we could end up with crippled or delayed release if it did get licensed.

[Andre]

Does Sentai or Section23 have a working website yet? It'd be nice to keep track of their catalogue that way too....

[dragonrider_cody]

They both have websites, but they are not up and fully running yet....

As for Bluray, Sentai probably wouldn't be doing their own replication. They would simply need the equipment capable of handling high definition sources, which they should already have. Most of the recent Sentai shows have been uploaded online in HD by Anime Network, so they have the equipment to handle the sources. They would simply need a replicator that currently does Bluray, which theirs may or may not do at the time.

Personally, I would prefer Sentai get K-On!, and I really hope it's one of the titles they are dubbing. I could see it selling enough to make a nice profit for them with a dub, depending on the price of the license. But I'm not going to hold my breath for a Bluray release. Bluray sales, especially of anime are still pretty miniscule. They might be smart to hold off for a bit and let the market grow some more, as ADV initially did with DVD's.

[Suwako Moriya]

What makes you think that Sentai would fare any better with getting better Japanese audio?

That is a good question since Sentai hasn't done any Blu-ray releases whatsoever so far, right? So there's no telling how good or not they would be at them.

True. Also, before anything else, we need to find out if Sentai is actually willing to release stuff on Blu-ray in the first place. Even if they've given indication that they're considering it, a maybe is just that a maybe.

There's also another problem. You could have title X which is expected to do well on Blu-Ray here, but the licensing cost for the blu-ray version could be too high. The blu-ray cost for Y might be more reasonable, but it would be expected to bomb on Blu-Ray.

We also have no idea if Sentai wants a gap between DVD and Blu-Ray or would rather announce both at the same. What might be interesting to pay attention to is any Sentai title currently licensed that also has Blu-Ray version in Japan. My assumption is that either we'll get a gap between DVD and Blu-Ray or we won't get Blu-Ray for a title at all.

[Suwako Moriya]

Personally, I would prefer Sentai get K-On!, and I really hope it's one of the titles they are dubbing.

K-ON! would be a perfect fit for Sentai. Assuming they do have it, I'm hoping it will be announced soon because it will help me rest easier. That and right now I have two choices when it comes to any unlicensed series.

The first choice is keep waiting for a license. The second choice is to sacrifice a bunch of R1 series. Note that due to budget reasons, I tend to go for the first choice 99.9 percent of the time. That and I keep hoping that waiting one more time (week/month/etc) will pay off.

Thankfully the final volume of K-ON! R2 comes out in January. Meaning that all the masters for all the episodes and such would have to be ready before then. Or at least I'd hope so.

[Njr Scrawl]

ADV is dead. Long live Sentai! Maria-holic is a cert. I hope YUA season 3 gets licensed.